New article out now with @smokegatherer.bsky.social and Nasir Almasri on the Palestinian movement and demobilization. We look at the protests of 2021, the unity intifada, and their aftermath on the structure of the movement. Hopefully the 1st of a few articles on this topic
doi.org/10.3167/cont...
In a short span of time there has been a global rise in "fake news" laws - legislation that purports to or is designed to curb the spread of false information. @sbradshaw.bsky.social, Monzima Haque, and I wanted to understand why.
"The Global Spread of Misinformation Laws" ijoc.org/index.php/ij...
Already citing this! 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼
Folks at #ica25 might wanna check out @ijoc-usc.bsky.social’s Special Section on True Costs of Misinformation, guest edited by me and @bostonjoan.bsky.social. The collection critiques mainstream frameworks of disinfo studies, written during a more hopeful "peak moment": ijoc.org/index.php/ijoc
📄NEW PAPER + 📈DATASET + 🌐WEBSITE
Please to be able to share our dataset paper: "An enriched, multimodal social media dataset of a UK General Election campaign."
The paper builds off the crowd-sourced publication of candidate lists in advance of the last UK General Election...
AI-powered disinformation is flooding the 2025 election, with deepfakes and fake news posing real threats to democracy. Jennie Phillips says the spread is like a virus, and Canadians must fight it before it takes hold: www.winnipegfreepress.com/breakingnews...
A buy/sell Facebook group mysteriously became a pro-Elon Musk, 51st state forum, without users opting in. @smokegatherer.bsky.social says it's likely hacked or sold. @mika-jpd.bsky.social points to an underground market where groups go for $50-$250. Meta’s fine with it.
Nice to see that all our speakers during this election interference and online disinformation themed month are on bluesky!
Alexei Abrahams - @smokegatherer.bsky.social
Philip Mai - @philipmai.com
Sze-Fung Lee - @imleeszefung.bsky.social
Giancarlo Fiorella - @giancarlofiorella.bsky.social
For researchers / #polisky folks: if you’re dealing with online harassment because of your research, here is a useful set of resources (potentially relevant to others too):
Alexei Abrahams Gray Hat Social Media Surveilling Online Political Discourse in the Public Interest Civic Tech TORONTO Hacknight #487 IN PERSON AND ONLINE Tues April 1 → 7pm
Next Tues, @smokegatherer.bsky.social talks to us about Gray Hat Social Media – the tools and techniques being developed by researchers to restore public oversight of the social media space
1 April 7pm, in person/online
Plus our usual breakout projects and discussions!
guild.host/events/civic...
📢 مجتمع التحقق العربي في مؤتمر #RightsCon2025!
يسرنا الإعلان عن مشاركتنا في مؤتمر @rightscon.org في جلسة افتراضية.
@abdelrahman.bsky.social @monashtaya.bsky.social @alsayyad.bsky.social @michatobia.bsky.social @smokegatherer.bsky.social @timep.bsky.social
📢 Arabi Facts Hub at #RightsCon2025!
We’re excited to invite you to our online session at Rightscon 2025!
@abdelrahman.bsky.social @monashtaya.bsky.social @alsayyad.bsky.social @michatobia.bsky.social @smokegatherer.bsky.social @timep.bsky.social
"a lot of automation relies on leveraging convenience. AI summaries do very little to help us learn how to listen... The short-cut on the switchback, the summary of the meeting so you don’t have to go, and in the process, you don’t have to engage with the mess that is a bigger set of relations."
Strong 💪🏼
This episode is now unlocked on all platforms. I learned a hell of a lot from these brilliant folks. And their courage inspired me to stop self-censoring about what I think is going wrong on the left.
Highly recommend supporting The Fire These Times and the whole From the Periphery network.
Interviewed @naomiaklein.bsky.social about, well, a lot
thefirethesetimes.com/2025/01/10/o...
❤️❤️Thanks Joan, this is one of the projects that incubated in your lab way back at Harvard. Couldn't have come together without your support and vision.
Wicked proud of Alexei!
He’s been working so hard to create this code and write this book: nostarch.com/social-media...
Get early access today!
@smokegatherer.bsky.social
Read every word of this eloquent and thoughtful intervention by @smokegatherer.bsky.social on structural versus kinetic violence in occupied Palestine: www.972mag.com/structural-v...
A moving excerpt from Adam Shatz’s new biography of Frantz Fanon (h/t @smokegatherer.bsky.social):
That's a very negative approach. Tell me something positive about the candidate you'd like me to vote for instead
I don't really see the distinction... figuring out his appeal seems an important step towards putting forward a better alternative. That's the democratic process, right? 🤔
And now that I've read the article, it honestly seems like a helpful investigation into Trump’s appeal with his base. What am I missing?
Haven't read the article but the highlighted text sounds reasonable?
Great podcast on how to think about violence in Palestinian context, with Dana El Kurd, Diana Greenwald and Alexei Abrahams
open.spotify.com/episode/05Nd...
Basically English-language Western media... Just not Australia/NZ
US, UK, Canada, news outlets with national / Intl scope
😢Structural violence isn't newsworthy in the same way, even though it's the primary type of violence inflicted by the state. In response to it, Palestinians are often the initiators of kinetic violence... which is where Intl audiences tune in 🤷🏽♂️
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4... what an eloquent and insightful essay. It was a relief to read after the past few weeks 👏🏽
Formidable, Marc. 👏🏽
